de
Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre
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You are in a hangar on a farm where
the prototype de Havilland Mosquito aircraft were built in 1941 in great
secrecy, lest the Germans got wind of this fast fighter-bomber. The
yellow fuselage is what remains of one of the four original prototypes.

Still in the prototype hangar
which is situated just five or six miles from Hatfield in Hertfordshire
which was the home of de Havillands.
The factory which became British Aero Space closed some years ago but I
think lives on, in part, near Bristol where the wings, undercarriage and
aeronautics are built. In this hanger are other de HavillandFor more
information visit http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/index.html

The twin seat Vampire T-11 jet trainer is
just one derivative of the single seater fighter like the one in the main
hanger. Another derivative is the Sea Venom carrier bourn fighter seen
here to the left. The T-11 brings back fond memories of myself as a
nineteen year old sprog at RAF Swinderby where, if I was helpful around
the tower, I got rides in the old bus and sometimes given the controls by
one of the instructors putting in an hours solo flight every few months in
order to claim his flying pay. The de Havilland Vampire was the
second jet fighter built. The Glouster Meteor was first but neither saw
active service in the war although test flights took place before 1945.

The Sea Vixen was an all de Havilland
aircraft. Airframe, engines, missiles, electronics, in fact almost
everything. Apparently it was not a pleasure to fly especially for
the navigator who sat in a small space beneath the cockpit with just a
small window and no forward view at all. It was in service
with the Royal Navy from 1959 till 1972. See it in action at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXHEINfO4pg

The Dove was a successful small twin engine
passenger aircraft built not only in Hatfield but also in under license
other countries
including the United States. I was a passenger in one that had seen
better days taking off crabwise in a rain storm from an airstrip in Abadan
with the ex-RAF pilot operating the windscreen wiper manually as its motor
had given up, the cockpit door had long since been removed. At the same
time the co-pilot was fiddling wih the engine revs trying to counter the
cross wind, I think. The pretty jet to the left is a prototype I think
built for Bristol Siddley as a test bed for the Bristol engines.

This is a four engine derivative of the
Dove sharing many small and major components including the engines.

You might well ask what a
Spitfire is doing in with de Havilland aircraft. Well I don't have a
category for it so for now here's where it's to be. It was a flower sculpture
modeled mostly from daffodils for the Spalding Flower Festival in spring
2011.

If you want panoramas of your
home or business please let me know. e-mailMark
Schuster